In defense of Snape (from a Snape hater).

[curlyhornedsnorkack]

No: HPFGUIDX 134885

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "eggplant107" <eggplant107 at h...>
wrote:

> ...It doesn't seem in character that Dumbledore would ask anyone to
> split his soul and become a murderer under any circumstances...

Snorky replies:
Is it murder if you are in a war, and you have to kill someone on
your side to hide your major weapon? In World War II, Winston 
Churchill, Prime Minister of the UK, allowed the city of Coventry to
be bombed by the Germans, and thousands of people died, all to 
preserve the secret that the Brits had decifered the German code. I 
don't know much of war history, but I bet there are cases where 
someone directly killed someone on their side for something very 
important, with the victim's previous consent.


Eggplant wrote:
> ...if Snape did discover something useful about Voldemort who in
> the Order could he tell about it, who would believe him? ... 
> Dumbledore would have to be crazy not to let Harry in on the plan,
> if Harry saw Snape murder him Dumbledore must have known him well 
> enough to know Harry would move heaven and earth to kill Snape or 
> die in the attempt.

Snorky replies:
His role could now be one of subtle sabotage and misinformation. 

We don't know whether Dumbledore left something behind for informing
the next-in-line OOTP leader that if Snape killed Dumbledore, it was
on Dumbledore's orders. Also, by watching Snape kill Dumbledore, Harry
didn't feel responsible for weakening Dumbledore so badly that he was
probably dying. (I got that last explanation from a few other
messages.)
As usual, Dumbledore chose not to enlighten Harry much about
what Snape was doing - Dumbledore hadn't gotten over his old habit of
being secretive. And as for letting Harry in on the plan, I don't
think there was a real plan. Perhaps it was a case of "If the worst
happens and you have to kill me to survive and keep your cover, then
kill me!"  Also, as someone else pointed out, if Snape hadn't AK'd
Dumbledore, Snape would have died as the result of not following
through on the last bit of his unbreakeable vow. As for Dumbledore
worrying about Snape, Dumbledore knows Harry is capable of holding
back his revenge because he showed that he could when he saved
Wormtail's life (although I might be just a little bit worried if I
were Snape!)

-Snorky